When will they get it??
I just have to ask, when will the TV executives get it? They take really good shows that have a broad appeal, then schedule them at 10 PM at night. I am a well paid intelligent person, and I get into bed around 10:15 at night so I can get up in the morning and earn my living. I can't fudge my way through the day on 6 hours of sleep. I'm not alone. Really good shows, and I'll use Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip as a case in point, get clobbered time and again in the 10 PM slot. Yet if you look at the ratings, you will find Studio 60 always did better in the Chicago market (as a percentage of viewers) as opposed to NY or LA. Why, because in Chicago, it airs at 9PM Central Time. Hey NBC WAKE UP!! Why not schedule this on Monday: 8:00 Deal or No Deal, 9:00 Studio 60, 10:00 The Black Donnellys. What do they do instead: 8:00 Deal or No Deal (Repeat), 9:00 Deal or No Deal (1st airing), 10:00 The Black Donnellys. I'll bet there is a good overlap between Deal and Studio 60, and a fair overlap between Studio 60 and Donnellys, but I know there is NO overlap between Deal and Donnelley's. But I'm just an average computer programmer, not a studio executive pulling in 6 or 7 figures.
Uh what?
Also in Saturday's UnionTribune was a short item in the Nation Update section. I can not get a link, but it is an update about, "three girls were suspended after they used the word "vagina" while reciting the play." The quote is a direct one from the paper, and to me it reads that they recited the whole play. What was the title of the play you ask, the next paragraph reads, "Eve Ensler, who wrote "The Vagina Monologues" has accepted . . . " and my mind just plain old locked up. Then I started laughing, hard! I have (and I am a Man) experienced (or maybe been subjected to) the live play. Trust me, the least offensive word (taken out of context) in the play is "vagina". I was sitting there trying to figure out how someone could only object to the word vagina, when just for starters there is an entire section for other names for a coochie. So I really couldn't understand this short update, it is maybe 4 column inches total and is credited to the Associated Press. Proving context is everything, the Journal News has a much
better description, in which it states they were only reading a section of the play, and one of the mildest ones at that. After reading the Journal article it made more sense, but what jack-ass of a school administrator objected to the word. I can see not wanting it to be used out of context, but they read straight from the script. The play is definitely in your face feminism, and has some VERY adult sections, but the one section that they read what word would that stupid school administrator like to have seen used? Beyond that, we get into the whole censorship question and what is appropriate for minors, which is something I'll let others tackle. But I still have this vision of three girls going through the monologs and afterward someone (with a bow tie, nasal voice, and wagging a finger) saying, "you shouldn't have used the word "vagina". I am going to have to suspend you now." Finally, I just have to ask, is Bob really that unusual these days?
An unhappy ending - BUT WHY?
So there was an article in Saturday's
UnionTribune about then end of AMS. In it is the now rote line about how in 2003, "it was revealed that several of AMS' advertising executives were sharply overchaging publishers" and later, "As a result, the company has not produced a quarterly or annual financial staement in three years," blah blah blah. Maybe I'm seeing a conspiracy where none exists (I do belive Lee Harvy Oswald did it alone, and I will NEVER EVER watch another Oliver Stone movie) but I can not believe that one vice president and 2 mid level execuitves (along with one accountant who turned everyone else in) can crash a company with 1 Billion in sales. A short re-cap, the company declared bankruptcy because their secured line of credit was called. It was called because they did not produce audited financial reports. However they put press releases in
November '05 and
March '06 with financial results they expected to be audited. If they had simply gotten one year's audited results out by July 31st (when their last loan extension ended) I am sure Wells Fargo would have extended it at whatever interest rate they were charging. In the November release they stated the restated and delayed 10K and 10Q's were comming. So what happened? If you know and want to spill the beans, email me at popmansplace at google.com or contact Dean Calbreath at uniontrib.com. (Put a dot between his first and last name.)
